The Ties That Bind
by Raevyn Blackthorn
Summary: Sookie Stackhouse , small time waitress. Annan Hale, the result of a night Corbett Stackhouse can't remember. What brings these two together? Why vampire politics, and telepathy of course. And lets not for get the ancient vampires out for their blood shall we?


_There is endless noise pouring through every window in the room. Dryads sing mesmerizing songs, asking for the strength of the earth to carry them through the battle ahead. Dwarves swing heavy hammers like ringing bells finishing shields, armor and all manner of weaponry. She detests it, this terrible cacophony, for she knows it is the sound of Faerie preparing for its final war._

The final preparations can be heard from every room in their palace, it permeates every corner and closet, as inescapable as the war for which they prepare. It haunts her, a deafening reminder the despite all her efforts, she has failed to reach her once friend and bring peace to her future kingdom. Nothing she says will sway them now, this path is set in stone. She has altogether failed.

 _The earth shaking steps of armored soldiers and animated golems seem to rattle even the very foundations of Faerie. To others it rings of battle formations and victory to come. To her it sounds like the end. A death knell for family and togetherness. It is a requiem for sun lit days and moon lit nights swimming with her best friend. An ending for comfort and protection, for love and belonging. Yes, for her it is a harbinger of loss and the affirmation that she will never see home again._

She could hear the resounding call of coronets as her maids fasten her armor into place. Niall was calling them into formation, ready to march. She wanted to run, by the gods did she want to run, but she could not. No matter her misgivings and growing dread, Niall made it clear that he needed her by his side. He needed her at the head of their armies behind their warrior queen, and no matter how she wished it otherwise she must follow. One of the maids interrupted her train of thought by handing her her helm and she could do not but stare. To put on the piece was to signify that she was ready to fight, and she was anything but.

 _Leather, sweat, and steel these are the scents that assault her as they march on Lilith's strong hold. Niall barks orders at his lieutenants left and right ignoring her presence. It matters little to her,she needs no orders. She has one purpose and one alone, protect the queen. Her anxiety climbs ever higher as realization dawns on her. So many of them are soon to fade._

" Fintan, take you men and flank from the left," she heard Niall yell from beside her. He has ignored her since they arrived but she doesn't mind. He gave her her orders before they ever left the citadel. She was to guard her queen with her very life. She didn't question his choice, she is the best fighter they have. Still she spares a moment search his face, trying memorize every detail of the man who taught her strategy and languages. She tried to burn the picture into her soul, this man was the one who had become like a father to her, chasing away her fears with songs and stories. She feared that she would lose him this day. She shook her head to focus and looked away, facing her queen and realizes, as she stares into eyes identical to her own, that today will probably be her last. She hardened her features and looked out over the battlefield whispering to her self.

" What do we say to Death Aeneas?"

 _They clash like titanic forces of nature. Two opposite elements that could never be in the same place with out trying to destroy each other. It was beautiful and terrible to watch, like a natural disaster in slow motion. Only flashing swords could be seen through the dust , cutting through it like lightening does a storm cloud. She alone was unbeholden to the sight of their fighting. Lilith's champion was roaring his challenge._

She watched, ready to fight, as their armies clashed. It was glorious and horrifying. They were evenly matched and so held the line in a titanic dead lock. Every ally felled was matched by an enemy joining the growing pile of dead. Fae magic choked the air as those gifted with the strength to cast summoned spells of natural disasters to their aid. Fires raged, tornadoes ripped their way across the field and great chasms opened in the earth beneath their feet. Still she stood guard waiting. Breandan was out there, inching ever closer. He could never resist a fight , and they had unfinished business to settle.

 _Their battle is done quickly. She had always been the better fighter,quick to use any tiny opening, which Breandan had in spades. His lust for carnage was a constant distraction and as the saying goes, a distracted fighter is a dead fighter. Her celebrations never comes for with his final breathe he confirms every fear she has had this day._

" Keep your focus Breandan! How are you going to beat me if you keep turning away," she taunted as she scored the final blow, sinking her blade deep into the heart of her once friend. He was kneeling before her, cut to ribbons and bleeding profusely, soundly defeated. She felt a moment of sadness as she looked at him until he parted his lips and sealed her fate.

" Stupid girl, I have served my purpose," he spat as the light left his eyes.

 _There was a distant rushing of air, faint and deafening. There was no other sound to hear but the inhalation of her breath, none but the ringing sound of a sword drawn unnoticed. It alone echos louder than the intake of breath and it brings with it a slowing of time. She had so little time now. There was solid earth beneath her feet and dust kicked up by the harshness of her run. It was a race, a race against the swordsman. Panic set in, a panic that choked her senses and made her desperate. The whistling of the blade pierced her ears, turning her race into a sprint against time. The panic clawed at her mind just that last bit more._

She turned away,leaving the cooling corpse behind as she ran to her queen. The distance between them was short but to her it seemed to stretch for miles. She could see Lilith's favored assassin charging behind the queen as she fought Lilith head on. They were about equal distance away and she prayed to the gods for speed, for the strength to get there before her enemy. She prayed that they'd take her life instead, she was ready for whatever judgment they had, ready to face a shining heaven or pain everlasting in their burning hell. Most of all she begged them not to take her mother from her.

 _A single moment passes, a simple blurring of seconds,in which a thousand choices are made. Most are small, some are vital and one that would change a girl's life, a leap of faith, for better or worse._

Desperate she pushed her self beyond her limits and throws herself between the assassin and her queen. The piercing of her chest burned in a distant sort of way, drowned out by the relief that she had made it. Her mother would live. For an instant she thought she could hear the rushing of her own blood, but it was overwhelmed by the sound of her mother's fury. The queen exploded in a hurricane of light and magic that forced everyone away from them.

 _A blur of white blonde hair and a splash or red blood signal her end. Her race is done, her panic fades and the final stroke falls. The screams of defiance are joined by bells which toll her end, time has run out._

Blood spilled over her lips as her mother shifted her into her lap. A soft voice tried to calm her ragged breathing and it was then that she noticed that Niall joined them. She could hear them begging her not to leave them as she gazed up at the stars above them.

" Aeneas," her mother sobbed, " Aeneas don't you dare leave me!"

" Why? Why would you do this," Niall asked, his voice sounding like broken glass in his grief.

" Because she needed saving," Aeneas choked, more of her life pouring from her lips, " what else could I do but jump? I don't think I'm coming home this time."

" No," Niall whispered sorrowfully, " No dearest I don't think you will, and this world will be all the darker for it."

Aeneas looked up towards the sky and let fly her last breath as darkness covered her vision. The sounds of battle faded from her ears and at last she was gifted with silence.

Aine looked down on her broken child, her only heir, and made a choice she wished she never had to. With trembling hands she withdrew a small glimmering pendant from her armor and gripped it tightly.

" Don't worry darling, mother won't let this be the end for you. I refuse to let Lilith steal away your future. You have so much left to live for, you've never even fallen in love. Damn you Lilith, mothers are not supposed to bury their children," the distraught woman whispered to her quickly fading child.

" Aine! If you use that cursed thing you will die! It will take your spark, you know this," Niall cried. He was unwilling to lose another person he loved to Lilith's tricks.

" I know what she did to it Niall, I just don't care. I must give up everything if you are to have peace," Aine said sadly.

" Aine of Faerie, please, I have already watched my child pass into the summer lands unknowing of who I was, do not make me watch you go as well," he begged her.

" Have faith Niall, I will make everything right," she whispered as she pressed the glowing stone to her lips. Niall reached for her but was blasted away as the battle field was bathed in light. It felt like a small eternity , waiting for the light to fade but when it finally did Niall was surrounded by stone soldiers. He made his way back to his beloved and held her close as she struggled to breathe.

" Aine, you did it my love. Lilith is gone, you've destroyed her," he said, trying to comfort her as he light began to flicker and dim.

" No Niall," Aine wheezed, " They are not dead, They sleep. I trapped them. If I had destroyed her I would have destroyed Aeneas as well. They were tied by fate and now they are bound by the power of the wish I made. I sent them to the middle realm, far away from Faerie."

" But then...you saved her. You saved Aeneas why are you so sad," he questioned.

"Because," she sobbed, " I had to pay a price if she was to live. She won't remember anything about this time or place , Nothing unless Lilith ever awakens. I shall never see my fierce warrior child again, never hear her voice as she roars her defiance, never watch her fall in love. Nor will I ever see you again my beloved."

" Aine."

" This was the only way for any of you to live on. I have secured everything you'll need in the middle realm. Aeneas will need you if Lilith ever breaks free."

" Of-of course amica mea."

" She will be reborn of human parents but she will be full Fae. Her light will sleep withing her until she most needs it. Should Lilith ever try to revisit this tragedy on our child, you must end her Niall."

" I could never do anything but my love," he whispers as the light begins to fade from her form.

" Fairfarren, amica mea," Aine said as her body began to crumble into glittering dust.

Her last thoughts were of her precious child.

 _' Goodbye Aeneas, you are with me always. Be happy my darling, I want you to smile and laugh a lot. I swear on my blood which is your blood, you will be free again'_

As the last of her body vanished into dust Niall let lose an animalitsic howl of grief. He cried his pain to the heavens and the wheel of fate began to turn.

 _A story once told...begins anew._


End file.
